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Fortune Cats – Maneki Neko

If you want good luck in gambling, wealth, business or your health, you can’t go past a Maneki Neko for a good luck charm. A WHAT?!

A Maneki Neko – a beckoning cat. Surely you’ve seen them – a cat statue on the counter of a Japanese or Chinese restaurant, with one or both paws raised. Some are static statues, while others are battery powered, waving that paw up and down until the battery goes flat.

Why are waving cats good luck?

It seems there are lots of Japanese stories about how cats came to be regarded as good luck. I’ll only include two of them here – but if you know of any more, please let me know.

The Temple Cat

The feudal lord of Hikone was walking past the poor temple of Gotokuji in Edo (modern day Tokyo) when he saw the temple cat beckoning to him. Curious…